Author Spotlight: ChanelAddict

My lovely readers! I must apologize for my super long absence. But I have another author spotlight for you–at long last I know! The newest in our series of awesome authors is ChanelAddict. Her stories are some of my favorite in that “they make me squirm and I love it!” kind of way. She takes ideas that may be a little out there or off the wall and makes them into realistic tales that you can 100% relate to. Without further ado–since this has been such a long time coming–here is the interview!

So, tell me a little about yourself.
I’m a 26 year old Irish Leprechaun standing at just 5f 0. :) I have an addiction to beauty products and a slight obsession with all things fashion. I graduated with my Honors degree in Media & Production, and have three pets that drive me crazy on a daily basis!

What do you do when you’re not writing?
I shop, ha! No, I write almost every day, I fit in time for it if I can, and if not I’m usually working at something, or I’m with friends catching up on everything I’ve missed, we shop, we do lunch, go for drinks and dancing. You know, the usual semblance of a social life that I usually avoid to write lol! I also run a fashion and beauty tumblr that keeps me on my toes, too.

Do you pull experiences from your real life into your writing?
Sometimes, though, very rarely. There will be tiny instances or conversations that come from real life that I’ll slip in there from time to time, but since the majority of my stories are set either in a different time period, or involve some form of… you know, murder or abuse of some kind, I just pull those from my seemingly twisted imagination as I’ve never experienced those things, thankfully!

How do you come up with your titles?
Sometimes it just comes from the plot idea that I have, I try to think of the general tone of the story I want to tell and at times it’ll just pop out at me, at other times I really have to think up something to suit the situation. There’s no sure fire way of deciding really, just whatever I fancy at the time of going to publish!

Ultimate girl question: chocolate or vanilla?
Can I mix both together? ;_) If not then chocolate, of course!

Besides SVM, do you have another series of books that you love or that you’d ever write fanfics for?
There are so many books I love from growing up, but SVM is the first I’ve written for, and a not-so-secret-secret is that I’ve never even read the SVM books. (My bad?)

What is the best compliment you’ve received on your writing?
The ones that stand out the most for me are the ones that make that personal connection with the reader, even if it’s in a tiny way. That they can see this playing out like a movie, that they were sucked into the world and are dying to know what happens next, that the characters ring true and real. That sort of thing is amazing to hear, and it makes the long hours and finger cramps worth it, since as FF writer’s we do write for free, the reviews in a way, are the pay off!

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
I aspire to be a writer, every day. So, really I think if you have a story in you that’s just dying to get out and you’re afraid to go the ‘real fiction’ route, try fanfiction first. You’ll find it’s no less real that what’s being published in the stores, because if your heart is in it, it all means the same to you.

What sort of Starbuck’s concoction would your characters order?
Ha. I actually found the order from The Devil Wears Discount that made me laugh, it was this – “Tall iced coffee in a Grande cup with extra ice, 3 pumps hazelnut, 2 pumps classic, an inch of non-fat milk, with a dome lid and a Venti straw…. A um, triple Venti Sugar free, Non fat, No foam, extra caramel, with whip, caramel macchiato, and a Venti, fat free, sugar free, lactose free, double cafe mocha w/o whip, one shot of sugar free vanilla.” I think for the other stories, it would be less complicated. War at heart? They just be happy with coffee in general, maybe with some rationed milk and sugar? Rise by sin, we know Eric had a slight coffee addiction because the poor bastard was deprived of just every other pleasure in life at that point lol! Um, Requiem Sookie’s would be intense like her, but with something sweet in the middle of the mess. And let’s see, who else… my California Bound twosome would have to have some soy non fat nonsense, being actors and all ;)

Tell us something random about yourself.
I weighted less than a bag of sugar when I was born.

What kind of environment do you write in?
It needs to be tidy, I’ve realized this over time. It’s usually my bedroom where I can get some peace and quiet, but it needs to be tidy or I find I can’t concentrate enough to lose myself in the different environments.

Tell the truth. Do you ever write naked?
I live in Ireland, it’s too cold to do that! Ha!

Where can you be found online?
Like Eric Northman, I am EVERYWHERE. No, just kidding. I’m on WordPress (myfictionalmusings), Tumblr (ChanelAddict), Twitter, and FF.NET (for now at least)

Anything else you’d like to tell?
Hm. Not sure really. Just that I’ve been doing this fanfic writing thing for a little while now. I’ve created a lot of fun worlds, met a lot of lovely people, made some great friends, and really enjoyed myself, and that can’t be half bad, can it? Any other questions, comments, concerns are welcome! :D

So, I feel I must address a few of her answers because I’m actually sitting up in bed and bouncing (and that’s a HUGE no no for me since I’m on bedrest–oops!)

Confession #1: Her story The Devil Wears Discount? is THE reason the Starbucks question is in there! I always thought that people never really ordered those weird Starbucks creations, but it just made so much sense when she wrote it and it made me laugh my ass off!

Confession #2: I find it so incredible that she’s never actually read the SVM books. In my opinion, she write the characters SO well that you’d NEVER know unless you were told. (Hint hint–that’s your cue to go and check them out yourselves!)

Okay, so those are my little confessions. Like I said, she’s an amazing writer and I literally can’t wait for story updates to pop up in my email from her. Here are the links where you can find her…like she said-she really is absolutely EVERYWHERE!

7 thoughts on “Author Spotlight: ChanelAddict”

Hah! The Starbucks question was hilar, and I’m rather proud to be the reason that it’s there. I always though most people just ordered something normal until a friend of mine started working there, and the stories she’d tell! And nope, still not ventured to the books. I’m not really sure why, but I think it’s got something to do with CH. I’m not overly fond of that woman’s personality from all I’ve heard, so it puts me off I think? But it’s a great compliment to be told that you’d never know that I hadn’t read tehm! Yay!
The questions were fun to answer on this though, thanks for including me in this! xo

My pleasure for includin you! I’m glad it was fun and so many people are reading and liking it! Yeah I’ve enjoyed the fanfic world much more than the actual books. Something about the…Meh I dunno. I’ll have to analyze that line of thought later. :o)

Thanks do much for the authors spotlight.
Chaneladdict is such a great writer and I adore
how she writes Eric and Sookie
And because of this I was really surprised
That she’s never read the books. I was also surprised that she lives in Ireland, I don’t know
why that surprised me, the Internet makes
Our world do small. I’ve read every Sookie
Story she has written, that I know of. Currently
It would be hard to chose my favorite between
War at heart and TDWD, but War at heart is
Extraordinarily amazing. Than you for the spotlight on Chanel and to her for her amazing stories

O boy, I love this blog, and I got lost ordering that watagatapitusberry coffee from Starbucks (I was so obsessed with getting a blackberry phone that once they had a dark cherry mocha, instead I ordered a blackberry mocha instead).

I was like wow she hasn’t read the SVM books? Yet you write Eric and Sookie like you knew them head to toe.

I have to say once more I loved the interview, and I loved that I got to know Chaneladdict a bit more, she is indeed a great writer.